Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle provided with a shift lever mechanism, and particularly to an improved shift lever mechanism.
Description of Related Art
There has been known a vehicle provided with a shift lever for changing over a traveling mode (for example, see JP-A-2007-62607 (FIG. 3))
In FIG. 3 of JP-A-2007-62607, an operation lever device (100) is disclosed (numerals with a parenthesis indicating symbols described in JP-A-2007-62607, the same being applied for the explanation made hereinafter). The operation lever device (100) includes an operation mode switching lever (102) and a shift lever (103).
Switching between 2-wheel driving and 4-wheel driving and lock-free switching of a differential-lock mechanism are performed by the operation mode switching lever (102). Switching between high-speed frontward traveling, low-speed frontward traveling and backward traveling is performed by the shift lever (103).
Although not described in JP-A-2007-62607, a parking lever or a parking pedal, which is operated in a parking state, is additionally provided to the vehicle.
Assuming that the parking lever is provided to the vehicle, it is necessary for a driver to operate three operation elements consisting of the parking lever, the operation mode switching lever (102) and the shift lever (103) and hence, the operation becomes cumbersome. Further, three levers are necessary and hence, the number of parts is increased whereby a space for mounting the parts becomes necessary.
There is a demand for reducing the number of operation elements to reduce the number of parts and required mounting space.